DECEMBER 2006

DECEMBER 2006 lessons from our Philippians series with our continuation of SECRET OF THE MYSTERY , as well as other subjects in order by date, (0190) 1498 -1508 with notes and links attached below.
PHILIPPIANS-1498
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1498
PHILIPPIANS-1499
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1499
PHILIPPIANS-1500
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1500
PHILIPPIANS-1501
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1501
PHILIPPIANS-1502
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1502
PHILIPPIANS-1503
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1503
PHILIPPIANS-1504
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1504
PHILIPPIANS-1505
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1505
PHILIPPIANS-1506
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1506
PHILIPPIANS-1507
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1507
PHILIPPIANS-1508
Pastor Robert R. McLaughlin  •  0190-1508
*Some MP3 lessons are not available for the notes. If the link does not bring you to a direct message, it will take you to the related series.

THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 168. THE VALUE OF PROSPERITY TESTING IN YOUR PORTFOLIO OF INVISIBLE ASSETS

0190-1498
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 168. The value of prosperity testing in your portfolio of invisible assets.

Friday, December 1, 2006


1. The old sin nature test.
2. Cosmic #1 test.
3. Cosmic #2 test.
4. Disaster testing.
5. People testing.
6. System testing.
7. Thought testing.
8. Prosperity testing.

1) Individual prosperity testing, in which some form of success challenges the top priority of doctrine.

2) Collective prosperity testing, in which a city, state, nation, business or group becomes very prosperous.

There are many believers today who cannot handle any form of prosperity because promotion and recognition causes them to become arrogant and think more highly of themselves than what they ought to think, especially in churches.

“It’s the TLJC who they were worshipping stupid and you’re just a jack-ass.”

Prosperity cannot bring happiness apart from the believer’s residence, function, and momentum inside the PPOG.

Our capacity must always precede our prosperity.

The cosmic system can offer you success, sex, fame, wealth, promotion, social and professional prosperity, but all these are without happiness and you make your own misery.

Passing this test consolidates the believer’s scale of values, making them consistent with the PPOG, resulting in stabilizing the right priorities of life, and giving capacity to enjoy prosperity.

Passing this test means that the mature believer receives God’s greatest prosperity, the greater blessings of time and eternity.

When you have the same happiness in adversity as well as prosperity, it means you have passed the test.

You concentrate on occupation with Christ,
HEB 12:2, so that He is the focus of your life, the priority solution, the motivation, and the basis for worship, as in communion.

In spiritual autonomy, you have a very high area of focus and motivation.

Occupation with Christ becomes a major problem-solving device in passing momentum testing and advancing to spiritual maturity.

On a good day, enjoy yourself; on a bad day, examine your conscience.
God arranges for both kinds of days so that we won’t take anything for granted.

It may be the giving of prosperity which might change the believer’s LIFESTYLE or it may be the removal of the prosperity that the believer was enjoying.

The prosperity test also brings out the covetousness and jealousy that some believers still have within them.

There is the prosperity of the wicked which sometimes causes envy in the righteous.

Asaph was one of the finest and chief musicians in Israel.

Even if you do not understand what you are going through remember God is good to His people.

There are certain people who prosper even though they are wicked, and this is also a part of your prosperity test.

How do you handle the prosperity of others?

1CO 12:26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

ROM 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

God in His Grace actually will allow the wicked to prosper on this earth.

MAT 5:45b He causes His sun to rise on {the} evil and {the} good,

You don’t see the discomfort and lack of content in their soul.

ECC 5:12 The sleep of the working man is pleasant, whether he eats little or much. But the full stomach of the rich man does not allow him to sleep.

They don’t have that peace that goes beyond understanding, PHI 4:6.

“Their body is fat” = their strength was from their riches.

You always need to remind yourself - you have something in your soul that money cannot buy, a peace that you can go through a tragedy, disaster, sickness, and still say, “I have learned to be content in whatever state I am.”

“Their hearts run riot”= whatever their heart wants, they get, because of their riches.

ECC 2:10 And all that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,

PRO 19:4 Wealth adds many friends,
PRO 19:6 Many will entreat the favor of a generous man, And every man is a friend to him who gives gifts.

PSA 14:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.”

They were standing on a smooth place (everything’s going smooth for them), but always remember -
smooth places can be very slippery.

JER 23:12 Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them,

“They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it; For I shall bring calamity upon them, The year of their punishment,” declares the Lord.

ECC 8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

“There’s a year for their punishment” = every person who is anti-God and has negative volition has a year assigned by God for their punishment.

ECC 8:10 So then, I have seen the wicked buried, those who used to go in and out from the holy place, and they are {soon} forgotten in the city where they did thus. This too is futility.

“Beast” - behemah - the water ox or the hippopotamus; a plump colossus of flesh, an emblem of colossal stupidity.




THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 169. GOD'S STANDARDS FOR PROSPERITY IN YOUR PORTFOLIO OF INVISIBLE ASSETS

0190-1499
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 169. God's standards for prosperity in your portfolio of invisible assets.

Sunday, December 3, 2006


1. Communion or the Lord’s supper is a test for true Christian fellowship.

Fellowship with God the Father - 1JO 1:3 “Indeed our fellowship is with the Father,”

Fellowship with the Son - 1CO 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Fellowship with the Holy Spirit - 2CO 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

2. The communion service is a test of your application of doctrine.
3. Ritual without reality is meaningless.

a. The bread which speaks of the impeccability of the humanity of Christ and His qualification to go to the cross as the Lamb without spot and without blemish.
b. The cup which represents the salvation work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

4. The ritual of eating and drinking portrays salvation by faith alone in Christ alone.

5. The importance of relating the communion service to worship.
JOH 4:24 - “they who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth or doctrine.”

6. The importance of the rebound technique, because this is the means of recovering fellowship and being filled with the Spirit.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor/Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday, December 3, 2006

1. The old sin nature test.
2. Cosmic #1 test.
3. Cosmic #2 test.
4. Disaster testing.
5. People testing.
6. System testing.
7. Thought testing.
8. Prosperity testing.

1) Individual prosperity testing, in which some form of success challenges the top priority of doctrine.
2) Collective prosperity testing, in which a city, state, nation, business or group becomes very prosperous.

There are many believers today who cannot handle any form of prosperity because promotion and recognition causes them to become arrogant and think more highly of themselves than what they ought to think.

Nine times in Deuteronomy He tells them not to forget what the Lord had done for them and 15 times He tells them to remember the Lord and His deliverance.

1CO 4:7 For who regards you as superior? And what do you have that you did not receive? But if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

With freedom and prosperity comes the temptation to trust in the blessings rather than in the Blessor.

1TI 6:17-19 To those who are rich in this present age, instruct them not to be arrogant and not to have confidence in the uncertainty of riches,- but to depend upon the God, who richly supplies us abundantly with all things for our pleasure and enjoyment.

1TI 6:18-19 To be producing divine good, to be rich in honorable deeds, to be generous and liberal in giving, Accumulating treasures for themselves, an honorable foundation for the future, in order that they may take hold of the blessings of that which is life indeed or really life.

For many individuals, adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.

“To stay balanced through adversity, adaptability is required.
But to stay balanced through prosperity - ah, that demands integrity.”

Every believer must pass the prosperity test before he can achieve spiritual maturity.

That is because our capacity to appreciate it and enjoy it must always precede our prosperity.

The cosmic system can offer you success, sex, fame, wealth, promotion, social and professional prosperity, but all these are without happiness and you make your own misery.

Passing this test means that the mature believer receives God’s greatest prosperity, which are greater blessings in time and therefore even greater blessings in eternity.

ECC 7:14 In the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider - God has made the one as well as the other.

It may be the giving of prosperity which might change the believer’s lifestyle, or it may be the removal of the prosperity that the believer was enjoying.

There are certain people who prosper even though they are wicked, and this is also a part of your prosperity test.

God in His Grace actually will allow the wicked to prosper on this earth.

PRO 19:4 Wealth adds many friends,
PRO 19:6 Many will entreat the favor of a generous man, And every man is a friend to him who gives gifts.

“I am with you God and I could care less if things are not going right at this time.”

God has certain laws and principles that He tells us we must follow in order to receive His highest and best in our lives.
God has certain laws and principles that we are to follow concerning money or finances.

One extreme concerns those people who hear that God wants them to prosper and follow Him simply for that reason.

The opposite extreme = the belief that financial prosperity for Christians is totally wrong.

The Living Bible -
PRO 22:4 True humility and respect for the Lord lead a man to riches, honor and long life

LUK 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

2CO 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 170. GOD'S PRINCIPLES FOR PROSPERITY

0190-1500
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 170. God's principles for prosperity.

Wednesday, December 6, 2006


The “prosperity” test. The believer sharing in that prosperity can become distracted from doctrine, and lured away from the PPOG.

The majority of believers simply cannot stand prosperity.

If we have plenty, we tend to think we have need of nothing.

Friends, if you are a believer in TLJC, you have something that wealth cannot buy, wealth cannot gain.

God has certain laws and principles that He tells us we must follow in order to receive His highest and best in our lives.

God has certain laws and principles that we are to follow concerning money or finances.

One extreme concerns those people who hear that God wants them to prosper and follow Him simply for that reason.

The opposite extreme = the belief that financial prosperity for Christians is totally wrong.

HAG 2:8 “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,” declares the Lord of hosts.

He has already given us His best; does it make any sense to believe that He would refuse to give us the rest?

ROM 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

PSA 84:11 No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
GEN 13:2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold.

GEN 24:1 Now Abraham was old, advanced in age; and the Lord had blessed Abraham in every way.

DEU 8:18 “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth,”
3JO 1:2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may PROSPER and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being prosperous and successful if we obtain and retain our prosperity as a result of following God’s standards.

The Living Bible - PRO 22:4 “True humility and respect for the Lord lead a man to riches, honor and long life”

LUK 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, they will pour into your lap. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

2CO 9:6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.

Financial prosperity achieved by the world’s methods will bring sorrow, but God’s Word clearly teaches us that God’s standards will enable us to prosper in every area of our lives without any sorrow.

1TI 6:10 For you see the love of money keeps on being a root of all sorts of evil, through which [love for money] certain ones by intensively desiring it [money] have gone astray from doctrine, and pierced themselves with many types of pain.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 171. GOD WANTS US TO HAVE PROSPERITY, NOT PROSPERITY TO HAVE US!

0190-1501
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 171. God wants us to have prosperity, not prosperity to have us!

Thursday, December 7, 2006


DEU 8:18 “But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth,”
3JO 1:2 Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.

MAT 27:57 And when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus.

LUK 8:3 and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who were contributing to their support out of their private means.

God wants us to have prosperity, wealth, and money, but He does not want them to have us!
God gave us His precious promises so we can be like He is if we follow them.

2PE 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature,

Adam forfeited the abundance and prosperity that God intended for us, his children.

1JO 3:8 The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
MAT 28:18 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”

God has certain laws and principles that He tells us we must follow in order to receive His highest and best in our lives = election.

HAG 2:8 “The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,” declares the Lord of hosts.
PSA 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it.
PSA 50:10 For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.

Anyone who reads 2Co 8-9 can see that both of these chapters deal primarily with the subject of finances.

When verse 8 tells us that the Lord became poor so that we could be rich, this applies to spiritual riches. Some Christians also believe that our Lord was poor during His earthly ministry.

MAT 11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard,”

He knew God’s laws for prosperity.

2CO 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

MAR 15:24 And they crucified Him, and divided up His garments among themselves, casting lots for them, {to decide} what each should take.

His earthly ministry = the approximate three year period between the time He was baptized and filled with God’s Holy Spirit in the Jordan River until the time He was crucified on the cross.

Surely He could have stayed in the home of the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea or in other nice homes where He was welcomed.

JOH 13:29 “Judas had the money box”

Jesus Christ had the purest faith that has ever been seen on this earth. As a result, He was able to turn little into plenty.

MAT 17:27 “Go down to the shore and throw in a line, and open the mouth of the first fish you catch. You will find a coin to cover the taxes for both of us; take it and pay them.”

Miraculous things happen to believers who have PVTD - perception, metabolization, and especially application of Bible doctrine.

When Peter and the other disciples had fished all night and came up empty, Jesus was able to produce so many fish that the nets broke, LUK 5:1-11; JOH 21:1-11.

When Jesus needed a donkey to ride into Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday, He did not have to rent or buy a donkey.

When Jesus needed a room to serve the Passover meal, He did not go to a hotel to rent one.

When Jesus hung on the cross, the soldiers who crucified Him gambled for possession of His expensive, seamless one-piece robe and His other garments.

Jesus Christ had the purest faith that has ever been seen on this earth.

Because Jesus followed all of God’s laws of prosperity, He enjoyed total prosperity, not just financial prosperity, but total prosperity of the spirit, soul, and body - throughout His earthly ministry.

JOB 27:16-17 The evil man may accumulate money like dust, with closets jammed full of clothing - yes, he may order them made by his tailor, but the innocent shall wear that clothing and shall divide his silver among them. - TLB

PSA 84:11 No good thing will He withhold from them who walk along His paths

PSA 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.

God wants you to prosper, and the first law for prosperity is “Always keep God first,”
MAT 6:33.

MAT 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.

Never start any day without first of all spending a period of quiet time of prayer.

Set definite goals of Bible study either through face to face teaching or personal Bible study on a daily basis.

2CO 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!

1. Do I actually place God ahead of each member of my family?

2. Is God always more important to me than my friends?

3. Do I spend more time seeking God each day than I do watching television or enjoying hobbies?

4. Is God more important to me than any possession that I have?

5. Is seeking God on a daily basis more important to me than seeking financial prosperity?

1. Do I actually place God ahead of each member of my family?
2. Is God always more important to me than my friends?

You will be opposed by your friends, family members, co-workers, and even enemies.

Abraham stayed with his father because of sentimentality, and that was a mistake because his father led him down the path to reversionism.

Many times families hinder the spiritual growth of believers because the believer is forced to compromise certain standards and convictions that are developed through doctrinal growth.

Families are not important!

MAR 3:21 And when His own family heard of this [that He claimed to be the Son of God], they went out to take custody of Him; for they [members of His family] were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

JOH 7:5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.

Per-act-ind - hestekasin = in the perfect tense, they have been waiting outside for Him for a long time!

TLJC taught that His followers are even closer to Him than His natural family and closest relatives.

1TI 2:4 He wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Relationship with God must have priority over relationship with people.

For the scribe, people emphasis, namely emphasis on himself, will prohibit him from following TLJC!

He allows family, friends, and others to guilt and manipulate him into action!

In this case, conforming to society and pleasing his family is more important to this type of individual than following the Lord!

There comes a time when you have to make a decision in life: Doctrine and rejection by family and friends, or family and friends and rejection of doctrine.

Will family responsibility be more important to this man than following TLJC?

There are times that a believer must take a doctrinal stand against the family or a family member for the sake of his own immediate family!

Is Bible doctrine more important to you than the most intimate ties of life?

His problem is that his lifestyle is one of placing his relationship with people over his relationship with God.

The Lord knows that this man needs to be released from being in bondage to what people think of him or placing his relationship with people over his relationship with God.

Adverb “proton” = the adverb of priority!
MAT 6:33 “But seek first [proton] His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”

He must get to the funeral because of what “people” think!
He even thinks our Lord might think evil of him if he leaves, so he seeks to be excused!

PRO 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

When the Lord said allow the dead to bury their own dead, He was saying let those who are dead spiritually bury those who are dead physically.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 172. PROSPERITY AND THE RIGHT PRIORITIES IN LIFE

0190-1502
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 172. Prosperity and the right priorities in life.

Friday, December 8, 2006


The eighth category of testing = prosperity testing.

TLJC was not poor when He walked on this earth two thousand years ago.

How can anyone say that Jesus was poor if He was able to meet the needs of such a large group of people?

How many poor people have a treasurer to keep track of their finances?

Jesus and His organization had a treasurer, Judas - JOH 13:29 “Judas had the money box”

JOH 6:70 Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and {yet} one of you is a devil?”
JOH 12:6 he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to steal what was put into it.

Jesus was a complete master of God’s guidelines and instructions to prosper. TLJC had the most genuine faith that has ever been seen on this earth. As a result, He was able to turn little into plenty.

When the tax collectors of Capernaum came to Peter and asked for money, was Jesus able to pay them?

Our Lord obviously was able to master God’s laws of prosperity in order to pay His taxes and even Peter’s taxes, as He does yours.

Miraculous things happen to believers who have PVTD - perception, metabolization, and especially application of Bible doctrine.

When Peter and the other disciples had fished all night and came up empty, Jesus was able to produce so many fish that the nets broke, LUK 5:1-11,
JOH 21:1-11.

Or was the Lord so much in fellowship with His Father and God the Holy Spirit that He received divine guidance concerning where the fish were?

He simply told two of His disciples to go into the village of Bethphage to look for a donkey and its colt tied alongside the road.

When Jesus needed a room to serve the Passover meal, He did not go to a hotel to rent one.

They should tell this man that they needed a large upper room and he would take care of everything.

How can anyone claim that Jesus was poor when He was able to obtain transportation and hotel rooms so easily?

If He was poor during His earthly ministry, where did He get a robe that was so valuable that soldiers gambled for it?

Jesus Christ had the purest faith that has ever been seen on this earth.

He had absolutely no need for worldly, material assets because He knew that He could apply His faith to God’s laws of prosperity in order to obtain whatever He needed.

Because Jesus followed all of God’s laws of prosperity, He enjoyed total prosperity, not just financial prosperity, but total prosperity of the spirit, soul, and body - throughout His earthly ministry.

JOB 27:16 “The evil man may accumulate money like dust, with closets jammed full of clothing - yes, he may order them made by his tailor, but the innocent shall wear that clothing and shall divide his silver among them.” - TLB

Our Father wants us to prosper financially; however, this prosperity is not “automatic” just because we are Christians.

PSA 84:11 No good thing will He withhold from them who walk along His paths.
PSA 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.

1. “Always keep God first,” MAT 6:33.

MAT 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”
Never start any day without first of all spending a period of quiet time of prayer.

MAT 7:8 “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.”

Set definite goals of Bible study either through face to face teaching or personal Bible study on a daily basis.

2CO 13:5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!

Take a test with me for a moment concerning whether or not you are putting God first in your life.

1. Do I actually place God ahead of each member of my family?
2. Is God always more important to me than my friends?
3. Do I spend more time seeking God each day than I do watching television or enjoying hobbies?
4. Is God more important to me than any possession that I have?
5. Is seeking God on a daily basis more important to me than seeking financial prosperity?

If you are going to be a winner in the spiritual life and receive God’s highest and best, greater than anything you can imagine, then you are going to have to overcome distractions and opposition.

You will be hindered by your friends, family members, co-workers, and even enemies from fulfilling the PPOG.

You will have distractions sent by the kingdom of darkness to try to stop your spiritual momentum and draw you away from the PPOG.

Abraham stayed with his father because of sentimentality, and that was a mistake because his father led him down the path to reversionism.

Jonathan chose a member of his earthly family, his father, over God’s people and died on the battlefield, 1SA 31:2.

Many times families hinder the spiritual growth of believers because the believer is forced to compromise certain standards and convictions that are developed through doctrinal growth.

Your family life is not the most important thing in your life.

MAR 3:21 And when His own family heard of this [that He claimed to be the Son of God], they went out to take custody of Him; for they [members of His family] were saying, “He has lost His senses.”

They did not come to believe on Him and to follow His teachings; they came because they thought He was going nuts - He was taking this God thing a little too seriously!

JOH 7:5 For not even His brothers were believing in Him.

They were standing outside; they did not even want to come in and listen to Him.
Per-act-ind - hestekasin = they have been waiting outside for Him for a long time.

TLJC taught that His followers are even closer to Him than His natural family and closest relatives.
MAT 12:50 “For whoever does the will of My Father Who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

1TI 2:4 He wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Relationship with God must have priority over relationship with people.

THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY, PART 173. SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND THE PORTFOLIO OF INVISIBLE ASSETS. PART 1

0190-1503
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery, Part 173. Spiritual gifts and the portfolio of invisible assets.

Sunday, December 10, 2006


The category of the function of your spiritual gift.

Several things do not constitute Christian service, such as civil disobedience and Christian activism.
Such functions reflect the moral degeneracy of loser believers.

A spiritual gift is a unique ability sovereignly given to each believer by God the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.

The spiritual gifts are given for the common good or for the edification of the Church.

Charisma - “gift” = something freely and graciously given.
It means a favor bestowed or a favor given.

Point 1. The source of spiritual gifts is a fascinating subject because it involves all three members of the Trinity.


a. God the Father as the source, HEB 2:4.

Witness - pres-act-part - sunepimartureo = to attest together with, to join in bearing witness, to unite in adding testimony.

ACT 1:8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

b. The ministry of God the Son in the distribution of spiritual gifts, EPH 4:7-8.

1. The transfer of Old Testament saints from Paradise in Hades to heaven.
2. Spiritual gifts were distributed.

TLJC gave gifts to “men” - dative plural masculine noun anthropois.

c. God the Holy Spirit gives to each of us at salvation a spiritual gift as He wills, 1CO 12:11.

Point 2. Definition and Description.
Charisma - derived from grace.
Charis = grace.
Suffix “ma” = receivers of grace.

In the Church-age spiritual gifts are the sovereign decision of God the Holy Spirit given to every believer at the moment of salvation.

Tongues, interpretation of tongues, healings, and miracles were all temporary spiritual gifts, no longer in existence today.

Spiritual - pneumatika = spirituality or spiritual things.

Spiritual gifts are sovereignly given by the Holy Spirit to each believer at the point of salvation.

The initial distribution of spiritual gifts, from the day of Pentecost for about twenty years, came from the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Holy Spirit.

Since that time, the Holy Spirit makes the distribution of all spiritual gifts, HEB 2:4, 1CO 12:11.

Your spiritual gift becomes operational through normal spiritual growth.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 174. SPIRITUAL GIFTS AND THE PORTFOLIO OF INVISIBLE ASSETS. PART 2

0190-1504
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 174. Spiritual gifts and the portfolio of invisible assets. Part 2.

Sunday, December 17, 2006

The category of the function of your spiritual gift.

A spiritual gift is a unique ability sovereignly given to each believer by God the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.

The spiritual gifts are given for the common good or for the edification of the Church.

Charisma - “gift” = something freely and graciously given; a favor bestowed or a favor given.

Your spiritual gift becomes operational through normal spiritual growth.

a. Spiritual growth. Some believers use their equal privilege and equal opportunity and achieve phenomenal growth.
b. Spiritual gifts.
The distinction among believers in spiritual gifts has its source in the sovereign wisdom of the Holy Spirit.

1. The filling of the Holy Spirit is the absolute concept of experiential Christianity.
2. The degree of spiritual growth is the relative concept of experiential Christianity.

As you have momentum from doctrine, your spiritual gift will function, even without your cognition.

Spiritual gifts are the Father’s witness to the saving work of Christ, and to the strategic victory of our Lord in the angelic conflict.

a. A spiritual gift is a unique ability sovereignly given to each believer by God the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation.
b. These gifts are for the purpose of serving the Lord and edifying the body of Christ, not bringing glory to self.

Joseph Thayer - “Charisma is extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians and enabling them to serve the church of Christ. This is due to the power operating in their souls from Bible doctrine and the filling of the Spirit.”

a. Temporary spiritual gifts were operational during the pre-canon period of the Church-age, from approximately AD 30, the day of Pentecost when the Church-age began, to AD 96.
b. Permanent spiritual gifts function from the completion of the New Testament in 96 AD until the Rapture of the Church.

Temporary spiritual gifts only functioned during the pre-canon period.

Permanent spiritual gifts function throughout the Church-age, but are emphasized from the time of the completion of the Canon.

Spiritual - pneumatika = spirituality or spiritual things.

“But especially that you may prophesy” =
“that you may speak by divine inspiration” -
it does not mean that you may foretell the future.

a. Temporary spiritual gifts were operational during the pre-canon period of the Church-age, from approximately AD 30, the day of Pentecost when the Church-age began, to AD 96.
b. Permanent spiritual gifts function from the completion of the New Testament in 96 AD until the Rapture of the Church.

The Spiritual Gifts Found in the New Testament.

ROM 12:6-8 - the gifts of prophecy, serving or ministering, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading or ruling, and mercy.

1CO 12:8-10 - the gifts of the word of wisdom, the gift of knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing of spirits or discernment, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.

1CO 12:28 - the gifts of apostles, prophets, pastor-teachers, miracles, healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.

1CO 13:8 - the gifts of prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the word of knowledge.
1PE 4:11 - the gift of serving or ministering and the gift of speaking.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 175. THE UNIQUENESS OF THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER

0190-1505
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 175. The uniqueness of the royal priesthood of the believer.

Wednesday December 27, 2006


1. The baptism of the Spirit.
2. The indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah glory.
3. The Angelic Conflict.
4. The mystery of adoption.
5. The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit.

6. The pre-designed plan of God.
7. The mystery of predestination.
8. The unique equality factor of the Church-age.
9. The Portfolio of Invisible Assets.

Two Unique Royal Commissions for every Church-age Believer.
These two Royal Commissions are the royal priesthood and the royal ambassadorship.

Ours is a universal priesthood. Believers in other dispensations have a specialized priesthood.
The universal priesthood of the believer is found in 1PE 2:5,9; REV 1:6; REV 5:10.

Your priesthood is the basis for your privacy to live your own life as unto the Lord.

Your priesthood does not begin to function properly until you attain spiritual self-esteem, and reaches its peak in spiritual maturity.

Not only is every believer a priest representing himself before God, but he is a royal priest. For our Lord Jesus Christ is a priest in a line of royalty rather than in the Levitical line of the dispensation of Israel.

GAL 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all equal in Christ Jesus.

Never before the Church-age and never after the Rapture is there ever another universal priesthood; it is only for us in the Church-age. This makes this dispensation the dispensation of personal responsibility.

A priest is a human being who represents people before God.
In the Church-age, since every believer is a priest, every believer represents himself before God.

You are responsible for every thought you think, every motive you have, every good decision you make, and every action you take, good or bad.

He made you a priest so that you could represent yourself before Him.

Acts 20:35 – God derives more pleasure from “giving to us” than He does from “receiving from us.”

MAT 23:9 “And do not call {anyone} on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.”

Peter was the first to teach the doctrine of the royal priesthood of the believer around 65 AD, 1PE 2:5,9.

As a royal priest, every believer has a direct line to God, which means he represents himself before God, he evaluates himself, and he offers prayer for himself.

To learn Bible doctrine under the principle of perception requires a tremendous amount of objectivity.

JOH 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

ROM 12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
HEB 2:10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory,

“His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure,” EPH 1:5.

His very nature is relational. This is why He identifies Himself in family terms: Father, Son, and Spirit.

He did not need a family – He desired one, so He devised a plan to create us, bring us into His family, and share with us all He has.

Our families on earth are wonderful gifts from God, but they are temporary and fragile, often broken by divorce, distance, growing old, and inevitably, death.

On the other hand, our spiritual family – our relationship to other believers – will continue throughout eternity.

The moment you were spiritually born into God’s family, you were given some astounding birthday gifts: the family name, the family likeness, family privileges, family intimate access, and the family inheritance.

GAL 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 176. EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOUR LIFE SIGNIFICANT IS RELATED TO THE FACT THAT AS A PRIEST YOU REPRESENT YOURSELF BEFORE GOD

0190-1506
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 176. Everything that makes your life significant is related to the fact that as a priest you represent yourself before God.

Thursday, December 28, 2006


Two Unique Royal Commissions for every Church-age Believer.
These two Royal Commissions are the royal priesthood and the royal ambassadorship.

Ours is a universal priesthood because believers in other dispensations have a specialized priesthood, e.g. the Levitical priesthood.

The universal priesthood of the believer, 1PE 2:5,9; REV 1:6; 5:10.

Everything that makes your life significant is related to the fact that as a priest you represent yourself before God.

Your royal priesthood shows that God’s plan for you in the Church-age as Royal Family is totally and completely unique.

The moment you were spiritually born into God’s family, you were given some astounding birthday gifts: the family name, the family likeness, family privileges, family intimate access, and the family inheritance.

In the ancient world, as long as the heir was a minor, usually classified as under 13, he had no advantage over the slave, though legally he owns the entire inheritance.

COL 2:16-17 Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

Here on earth we are given “the riches... of his grace... kindness... patience... glory... wisdom... power... and mercy...”

EPH 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,

1. We will get to be with God forever.
2. We will be completely changed to be like Christ.
3. We will be freed from all pain, death, and suffering.
4. We will be rewarded and reassigned positions of service.
5. We will get to share in Christ’s glory.

Your spirit can be deeply touched and be united with God’s spirit while you live in your human body called the body of humiliation, PHI 3:20-21.

When you fully enter into the presence of God through understanding your royal priesthood, you shall fully see all that you now have by faith.

Your spiritual life is a journey toward Christ possessing you more completely and this happens through understanding that you are a royal priest.

Under the privacy of your priesthood, you must be able to define your life in terms of the PPOG, which means you must learn the technical language and vocabulary.

Once you do, you as your own priest can analyze and evaluate your own life and your own problems, and apply doctrine and make corrections to your own life under the privacy of your own priesthood.

This is why the royal priest’s self-improvement is based on the function of perception of doctrine, not upon the advice and counsel of others.

No believer can think, apply doctrine, or solve problems through the mind or the personality of another Christian.

To the extent that we seek counsel or advice, we are not getting enough doctrine or we are not using our own doctrine.

Under the privacy of your priesthood, you have the right to assemble with other believers in a group, where your privacy is respected, to learn doctrine from your pastor-teacher.

The privacy of your priesthood permits the function of both your positive volition toward doctrine plus the right to metabolize and apply that doctrine to your own experience.

The only human dependence of the royal priesthood is the divine provision of your very own pastor-teacher, and consistent positive volition under his teaching ministry.

The privacy of your priesthood permits the function of both your positive volition toward doctrine plus the right to metabolize and apply that doctrine to your own experience.

Faithful Bible teaching from your right pastor demands your faith perception, metabolization, and application of that teaching to your own life as a royal priest.

a. Rebound as the basic technique for the recovery of fellowship.
b. A consistent prayer life.
c. Perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine to your own experience.
d. Worship.
e. The sacrifices of life, such as praise, which is your doctrinal momentum resulting in spiritual adulthood and the manner of operating of virtue-love.
f. Divine viewpoint mental attitude from metabolized doctrine.
g. Self-motivation from metabolized doctrine.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 177. THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD IS PERMANENT AND LASTING BECAUSE IT IS INWARD AND SPIRITUAL

0190-1507
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery, Part 177. The royal priesthood is permanent and lasting because it is inward and spiritual.

Friday, December 29, 2006


Major functions of the royal priesthood:

a. Rebound as the basic technique for the recovery of fellowship.
b. A consistent prayer life.
c. Perception, metabolization, and application of doctrine to your own experience.

d. Worship, which includes giving as a part of your priesthood.
e. The sacrifices of life, such as praise, which is your doctrinal momentum resulting in spiritual adulthood and the manner of operating of virtue-love.
f. Divine viewpoint mental attitude from metabolized doctrine.
g. Self-motivation from metabolized doctrine.

Your priesthood demands that you live your own life as unto the Lord and take the responsibility for your own decisions.

When He comes, He will bring out in the open and place in evidence all kinds of things we never even dreamed of - inner motives and purposes and prayers.

1PE 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,

Our temporary blindness in time does not and should not stop our true enjoyment of God nor the communication of His Word to our spirit.

We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives.

JOB 36:15 “He delivers the afflicted in their affliction, And opens their ear in time of oppression.”
HOS 5:15b In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

There is no doubt that when you first receive Him you are united to Him (but there is much work that He must do in you to make you perfectly fitted for Himself).

True union with God is permanent and lasting because it is inward and spiritual.

God, in creating you, made you a partaker of Himself.

2PE 1:4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature,

On a human level, God gives man the desire to be fully united with a spouse in marriage; but that union is never totally complete because the two can never totally merge into one.

On the other hand, if you mix two glasses of water together, they immediately become so fully mixed that you cannot separate them.

TLJC called it “oneness,” JOH 17:11,21-22.

True fellowship with God takes place only when you begin to understand the privilege of your royal priesthood and surrender your self-nature to God.

There is a deep fellowship in your royal priesthood where you stop preserving the self-life, and lovingly and absolutely begin to fellowship with God.

Even here in this world, our union with Christ and the privilege of your royal priesthood is the greatest achievement of God’s love and omnipotence.

When a believer does this, God removes some of the obstacles He had put in the way, and then we are encouraged to turn towards Him back in fellowship as royal priests.

The more open and widely the soul is opened to God, the more abundant is the release of His grace mercy.

Although it seems at times that God reduces our souls to emptiness and nakedness, the desolation is only external and apparent.

One of those incredible gifts is the insight into our sorrows and difficulties and trials and how all of them can strengthen and develop our royal priesthood.

Dealt - asah - to manufacture something out of something; here God manufactures what is “well or good” out of a horrible situation.

Because of God’s grace and love for each one of us, out of disaster,
“Thou hast dealt well or manufactured divine good with Thy servant,”

He allows the world, the things of the world, and the people of the world to afflict and plague us to bring us back to Him.


THE SECRET OF THE MYSTERY. PART 178. THE ROYAL PRIESTHOOD AND THE POWER OF A TIMID PRAYER

0190-1508
Robert McLaughlin Bible Ministries

The secret of the mystery. Part 178. The royal priesthood and the power of a timid prayer.

Sunday, December 31, 2006


1CO 2:7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden {wisdom,} which God predestined before the ages to our glory;

COL 1:25-26 Of {this church} I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the {preaching of} the word of God, {that is,} the mystery which has been hidden from the {past} ages and generations; but has now been manifested to His saints,

1. The baptism of the Spirit.
2. The indwelling of Christ as the Shekinah glory.
3. The Angelic Conflict.
4. The mystery of adoption.
5. The sealing ministry of the Holy Spirit.

6. The pre-designed plan of God.
7. The mystery of predestination.
8. The unique equality factor of the Church-age.
9. The Portfolio of Invisible Assets.

Two Unique Royal Commissions for every Church-age Believer. These two Royal Commissions are the royal priesthood and the royal ambassadorship.

As royal priests, we represent ourselves before God. Ours is a universal priesthood. Believers in other dispensations had a specialized priesthood, e.g., the Levitical priesthood.

The universal priesthood of the believer is found in 1PE 2:5,9; REV 1:6; 5:10.

Your priesthood is the basis for your privacy to live your own life as unto the Lord.

GAL 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all equal in Christ Jesus.

This means you are responsible for every thought you think, every motive you have, every good decision you make, and every action you take, good or bad.

He made you a priest so that you could represent yourself before Him.

As a royal priest, every believer has a direct line to God, which means he represents himself before God, he evaluates himself, and he offers prayer for himself. JOB 36:15 “He delivers the afflicted in their affliction, And opens their ear in time of oppression.”

HOS 5:15b In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

MAT 6:7 “When you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition, as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.”

Why on earth would God in heaven want to talk to me?

The power is not in the prayer; it is in the one who hears it.

Not only was he a deaf mute and an epileptic, he was also possessed by an evil spirit.

“If you can do anything for him, please have pity on us and help us.”
“Since you can do anything for him, please have pity on us and help us.”

It begins as a hope, an honest appeal.

We are tempted to wait to pray until we know how to pray.

He responded, not to the eloquence of the man, but to the pain of the man. HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

ISA 53:4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

The burdens of earth were replaced with the splendors of heaven.

The journey up was exhilarating but the journey down was disheartening.

The disciples have failed, the scribes are amused, the demon is victorious, and the father is desperate.

Since God is more moved by our hurt than our eloquence, he responded.


SECRET OF THE MYSTERY
JANUARY 2007